CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -The world’s largest and powerful X-ray laser-European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) was unveiled in Hamburg, Germany.

Detailed explanation-2: -The European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) in Hamburg can generate tens of thousands of X-ray flashes per second and produce light one billion times brighter than conventional X-ray technology, paving the way for scientists to capture the first-ever images of molecules moving in real time.

Detailed explanation-3: -The world’s most powerful X-ray laser is ready for operation after a massive overhaul. A powerful upgrade to Stanford’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), LCLS-II uses temperatures colder than deep space to accelerate electrons to near light-speed and fire off a million X-ray bursts per second.

Detailed explanation-4: -This type of superbright, superfast light source, called an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), has been around for a decade, but it is becoming more and more powerful, says Sakura Pascarelli. She is the scientific director of another such source, located outside Hamburg, Germany: the European XFEL.

Detailed explanation-5: -In X-ray lasers, a pulse of light strikes a target, stripping its atoms of electrons to form ions and pumping energy into the ions (“exciting” or “amplifying” them). As each excited ion decays from the higher energy state, it emits a photon.